Mixed bag

This has been a week of interesting developments for Bletchley rail passengers...

Train length

Starting on a positive note, London Midland have confirmed that the 1751 will be returning to a 12-car service from Monday 14 March.  When the winter timetable was introduced back in December, London Midland reduced the capacity to 8 carriages.  This caused a storm of protest with complaints being submitted by post, by email and via Twitter (see Rob Peter, Pay Paul).

London Midland accepted in January that they needed to restore the train to its previous length, but warned that this might have to wait until the next timetable change in May.  Fortunately, they've found a way of making the change earlier.


Now for the not so positive bits... 

Bletchley station car park

This week we learned that London Midland intend to remove part of the car park upper deck.  We have excess capacity and Northampton has too few spaces, so the section will be dismantled for re-erection up there.  There's no argument about us having more spaces than we need, but it does seem strange that:

1. London Midland got it so wrong when the car park was first built (or was the provision of so many spaces at Bletchley a ploy to help meet a target set as part of the franchise agreement?), and
2. That it is cost effective to move a section from one location to another rather than buying new for Northampton

In addition to dismantling a section, London Midland are planning to move the up and down ramps from the rear of the car park to the front.  Is this madness?  We already have chaos at the roundabout which has five official feeds plus bikes coming out of the shed and pedestrians with no footpath.  Add on people ignoring the one-way system who exit the car park from the entrance, and it's 'an accident waiting to happen'.

If the ramps are moved to the front then the down ramp will presumably have to have priority over all other traffic.  How that will happen in reality is a mystery...


Station manning

On Tuesday London Midland have announced plans to change the manning hours at the majority of stations across the network (see London Midland proposes changes to ticket office opening hours).

For Bletchley, the proposal is to change the manning hours as follows:

• Mon-Fri: 0600-1900 instead of 0545-2130
• Sat: 0700-1800 instead of 0545-2130
• Sun: 0800-1700 instead of 0715-2100

What does this mean in practice?  For the ticket office itself, the reduced hours will mean that anyone needing to buy or replace a ticket on their way home won't be able to do so if they get a midweek train after the 1751.  Not good when London Midland have an expectation that we'll call into the ticket office to get a replacement when our ticket won't work their automatic gates...

The toilets at Bletchley are only open when the station is manned, so this means discomfort and inconvenience for many (their website says that we can use the toilets on the trains, but this is no good when you are waiting for your train to arrive!)

The other issue is safety.  Bletchley is a big station.  It may have CCTV but it seems unlikely that that will help at the time of an incident.

The changes are only proposals so if you'd like to comment on them then please write to:

Passenger Focus

Freepost (RRRE-ETTC-LEET)

PO Box 4257

Manchester

M60 3AR

Or email: advice@passengerfocus.org.uk

ASLEF strike

Before Christmas ASLEF, the train drivers' union was due to strike (see Rail strike 23-Dec).  The industrial action was called off following legal action by London Midland.   On Friday it was announced that the Appeals Court had made a judgement in favour of ASLEF, so it looks very likely that we can expect a strike in the coming weeks.  What joy  :-(


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Extended journeys

Two things have been winding me up about the operation at Euston - queueing to get off platforms 8-11 in the morning (Platform planning) and trains dropping off the VDU displays a couple of minutes before departure (Euston announcements).

Some 'light digging' has revealed some interesting info about the above two subjects.  Working in reverse order, so starting with the journey home...  Network Rail/Virgin Trains/London Midland have apparently decided that to deter people from running across the concourse and down the ramps, they will deliberately drop the VDU information for a train two minutes before it's scheduled departure time. 

Now to the morning...  Before the remodelling work on the automatic barriers and the surrounding structures on platforms 8-11, there were set time slots when the gates were open.  What this meant was that at busy times, the flow of passengers coming into Euston was significantly eased.

The remodelling work did improve things in terms of more gates across a wider front and a slightly wider approach from platforms 10-11 thanks to the moving back of some railings, BUT London Midland have negated those benefits by deciding to keep the gates working on automatic throughout.  That wouldn't be so bad, but the loss of the manual gate means that we are all slowed down when people have to seek assistance when their tickets fail to work the automatic barriers.

The 'Magic E'.  The mark on
the 3rd pillar which platform
staff are using as the measure
for when to open the
automatic barriers

I've queried the above and been told that the automatic gates will normally now only be opened if the queue will take 5 minutes or more to clear.  'Health & Safety' have been down and given the platform staff marks on the platforms for when that point is reached.  These marks are the signs on the third pillars from the gates (see picture right).

London Midland reckon that they can clear the passengers from two 12 coach trains off the platforms in 3 minutes.  Sorry, but I don't believe it.  The 8-car 0700 ex-Bletchley can arrive at Euston platform 11 within a minute or two of an 8-car train on platform 8 and a 4-car on platform 10.  From the end carriage in those circumstances it will easily take 5 minutes plus to reach the ramp.  Maybe London Midland haven't taken into account people coming the other way to board trains, passengers with bicycles/luggage, and non-working tickets...

Even if 5 minutes is correct, what London Midland is effectively saying is that they are happy to extend our journey times by that amount.  On the way home they expect us to be on the platforms at least 2 minutes before departure too.  I'm sorry, but I think this is ridiculous.

What do you reckon?  Are you happy to be held up on your way into London by the queue for the gates?  Are you willing to miss a train because when you arrive at the station at the last minute you don't know what platform it is leaving from?  I'd love to know your view...


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Top ten irritants

I don't know what sparked it off, but on the way home on Friday (with nothing to read) I ran through a list of things which most irritate me about some of my fellow passengers.

None of us are perfect (and I'm the last to claim that accolade), but in no particular order this is what winds me up:

1. People who insist on having a conversation with the London Midland ticket inspector at the 'manual' gate at London Euston (blocking the way for those of us who are trying to get on or off the platform)
2. People who do everything they possibly can to deter anyone from sitting next to or opposite them.  We all take up a bit more room when there is plenty of space, but when the train is busy the knees and legs should be tucked in, papers should be folded, and bags should come off the seat next door to go on the lap or up in the luggage rack
3. Users of iPods and other MP3 players who insist on maximum volume and either don't realise how much noise can leak out from their earphones or don't care.  The thought that their hearing is probably being damaged provides no satisfaction when we have to put up with the tinny, hissing noise that can be heard metres away (this wasn't such a problem on the old 321 trains but the background noise level on the Desiros is much lower) 
4. People who put their feet on the train seats.   Shoes on or off, on newspaper or not, I think this is disrespectful to others
5. Passengers leaving the train who stand in the middle of the doorway just to save a fraction of a second when they get off (if they tuck into one side then two people can get into the same space, freeing up room further back for people to get out of their seats)
6. Passengers who bring full-sized bikes onto the trains (or who have foldaway bikes which they keep assembled) when there are restrictions during the morning and afternoon peak
7. Passengers walking through Euston dragging small trolley bags behind them.  They seem to forget that they have an extra metre in tow when they cut across in front of the rest of us who also have workplaces to get to or trains to board
8. People who leave food and drink waste on seats and tables when they leave the train.  Why should the rest of us have to tidy up behind them?
9. Motorists and cyclists who disembark at Bletchley and think that normal rights of way don't apply.  We've got the people in their cars who ignore the one-way signs and come out of the car park entrance and the Cyclists who treat the ramp from the bike shed like the launch pad for a downhill race.  If there hasn't been an accident yet then it can't be long before there will be one
10. ?

I've deliberately stopped at number 9, leaving you an opportunity to nominate something else which you find irritating about your fellow commuters and occasional passengers on the London Midland line into Euston (maybe me!) 

Alternatively, if you think I'm wrong about any of the items listed above then feel free to throw a contrary viewpoint into the ring  :-)


Comments below

Not a great day...

I normally try and keep to a single subject per post, so I hope you'll forgive me if a I do a bit of a 'moan dump'.

None of today's incidents were major or unusual (and some of them have become routine), but I don't normally have this number of things to whinge about in such a short period of time...

I still can't buy a paper at the station (see Bletchley station shop).
The air-conditioning in the end carriage of the 07:00 to Euston wasn't working.  The conditions were well described by a travelling companion as "warm and humid".

As usual, the 07:00 arrived at Euston early (timetable flab).  As we got out onto platform 11 at 07:39 the four coach train pulled into platform 10 (on time at 07:40). The result was two train-loads of passengers trying to squeeze past the narrow end of the platform and through the barriers at the same time (see Platform planning).

I did get a paper at the W.H.Smiths on the concourse at Euston.  The trouble was that as I walked out of the station I realised that I had two sets of the Sports and Business supplements.  I may be an idiot but I'm an honest idiot.  I walked back and returned the extras.  the look I got from a member of the shop staff was priceless...

Coming home, in the scrum that is the queue to go through the manual gate onto platforms 8-11 (see Ticket failure), I was elbowed in the side by a woman who was standing back like she was in the queue for the ticket office one minute and then determined to fight her way through to the front the next (the comment she made when I objected was classic - "get a life").

Boarding the 18:29 I found a half decent seat (with a table so I could do some laptop work) in the last but one carriage of the train but in the last few minutes before leaving the guard announced those fateful words "would passengers intending to travel beyond Northampton please make their way to the front four carriages".  Now we know that the train splits at Northampton with the front four carriages going on 'up north' (for this train that being all stations to Crewe), but there really is no rush to move. 

On the Desiros passengers can make their way through the train to the front at any point in the first hour of their journey and there's at least 5-6 minutes in Northampton itself to do the switch.  All London Midland are doing by making these announcements at the last minute before departing Euston is causing people to panic, shifting people from seats at the rear of the train to the front where they sometimes end up unnecessarily standing.  (This time the guard did actually make an announcement after Watford that he'd seen people stepping off the train and rejoining further up, taking the risk of missing the train altogether!)

Like many people who get off at Bletchley, I sometimes work my way down the train after passing Leighton Buzzard to get closer to the doors which stop nearest the bridge steps.  I don't object to people sitting across two seats with their feet out over the narrow alleyway, but why oh why do some of them refuse to move to allow others to walk past?

I got off at Bletchley thinking the troubles were over.  Silly me, I'd forgotten the people who insist on driving the wrong way out of the car park (see One Way?)


Thank you for listening, I don't know if you enjoyed reading the above but I feel much better for having got the gripes off my chest  ;-)

Ticket failure

We've always had problems with the magnetic strip failing on our tickets, but in the last year to eighteen months the problem seems to have got a lot worse.  Last year I probably renewed my ticket 5-6 times and when I renewed for 2011 the new one lasted less than 24 hours.  The railway could be right when they say that the problem is with mobile phones, but nothing else I carry seems to be affected by them!

It does look like London Midland may be doing something about this.  According to their own website (London Midland to hold its first Smartcard trials in Worcestershire). 

This innovation is only a trial at four Midland stations so there's no guarantee that we'll ever see the introduction of "The Key... a credit card sized piece of technology that will easily fit inside a wallet or purse" at our end of the line, but we just have to hope that these smartcards are a success as it would be great to put an end to having to either:

1. Go to the inconvenience of routinely queuing up and filling out the forms to get the current paper season ticket renewed, or
2. Have to go through the regular gate at Bletchley and London Euston (it seems a terrible waste of someone's time at Bletchley to have to man the gate early in the morning/evening and at Euston it's a real 'bun fight' with people trying to get through the gate both ways)

Come on London Midland - We pay £3,300 plus for an annual season ticket and deserve something a bit better than a piece of thin card with a magentic card which loses its stored data when it comes within a centimetre or two of an active mobile phone!

Platform planning?

Three trains into platforms 8-11 within minutes of each other...  Automatic gates in operation...  Only one member of the platform staff in attendance... 

The above occurred this morning.  The 07:00 from Bletchley normally pulls into Euston around 07:38.  Since the new timetable came into force the arrival platform has been  platform 11 (it used to be no.17).   This morning there was an 8-car train disgorging its passengers on platform 8 (all stops from Bletchley due in at 07:34?) as we pulled onto platform 11 and disembarked.  Within a minute or two a 4-car (07:40 arrival from Tring?) was pulling into platform 10.  

Twenty carriages' worth of passengers at the same set of platforms at the same time would be bad enough, but on when its platforms 8-11 at London Euston then queues and frayed tempers are guaranteed...

The picture above was taken on a quiet Saturday morning but it does illustrate one of the issues with this part of Euston station.   The platforms themselves are more than wide enough but where 9 & 10 (which are effectively bay platforms) cut into the walkway too many people are forced through too narrow space.

To make matters even worse, the flow of passengers through the barriers is distorted with some crossing from left to right and others from right to left.   The problem is made worse by the fact that the underground station entrance, the ticket office, the information booth and the gate for people who can't use the automatic barriers are all on the same side.

Last year London Midland acknowledged the problems on platforms 8-11 and agreed to reduce the impact by keeping the barriers open for particularly busy time slots during the morning rush-hour.   When two trains have arrived at about the same time there is still queuing, but it is nothing like as bad as it would be if the automatic barriers were operating. 

So the questions that need to be asked are:

1. Why has London Midland and/or Network Rail decided that it's a good idea to have three (full) trains arriving on platforms 8-11 within minutes of each other?
2. Why weren't the automatic barriers open this morning?
3. Why was there only one member of staff on duty?

From experience I know that there is absolutely no point whatsoever raising these questions with London Midland customer service.  Send them an email and you get a reply saying that they are experiencing a particularly busy period and it may take longer than usual to reply (I'm told that there 'standard' was 2.5 months earlier this year).  All you'll eventually get is a letter apologising for the inconvenience and saying that it has been raised with the appropriate department.

We don't want a belated apology and a promise of an investigation.  We want actrion to make sure these problems don't occur again!